The present invention is in the fields of public health and food science. More particularly, the present invention has the medical application for treatments for obesity. More particularly, the present invention deals with the physiology of appetite control.
Obesity is a huge problem in the United States. It is an epidemic of increasing prevalence. An effective way to lose weight is to reduce caloric intake. This is often hard for patients to do since it requires a significant lifestyle modification. Artificial sweeteners have been used to decrease caloric intake with minimal lifestyle changes. These compounds work by stimulating the tongue receptors, thereby producing a sweet taste, while at the same time resisting metabolism by the gastrointestinal tract and therefore not contributing to caloric input to the body as natural sweeteners do. For instance, a patient who consumes orally 10 grams of Splenda®, a common artificial sweetener, would later excrete 10 grams of Splenda® in his or her feces, since the artificial sweetener is not metabolized. Other inventions have approached this problem, such as by proposing a liquid colloid of dietary fiber in water suspension that could be drunk for appetite suppression.
Our invention does not use dietary fiber. Dietary fiber is a natural part of certain foods and is generally nondigestible. In the food-service industry “fiber refers to a group of carbohydrates that cannot be absorbed and used by the body.” [Wayne Gisslen, Professional Cooking 7th ed, pg 127]. “Digestion is the chemical breakdown of ingested foods into absorbable molecules” [Costanzo, Physiology, 5th ed pg 363]. It is noted in the prior art that a feature of “indigestible substances is they are not digested or absorbed by the digestive tract”, however “Indigestible substances, such as dietary fibers . . . exhibit various modes of behavior in the digestive tracts producing . . . physiological effects through the endocrine system of the body” [U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,729]. This means that despite being nondigestible, nondigestible substances can still be utilized for physiological effects.
Physiologically, distention of the stomach by any volume-occupying mass (including food and drinks) leads to the feeling of satiety and reduction in hunger. This gastric distention is caused by volume occupied by the mass ingested and is independent of the caloric value of the mass.